Jeff and Rea's Blog

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Our First Easter

This is our fist Easter with Eva and also our first Easter without my father, Helly, who tragically passed away March 16, 2009.

We are all doing fine and life does go on. Eva is probably close to 11 lbs now and had all of her first shots.

Eva likes sitting in the sling Halli lent me. But sometimes she tries to squirm out.

Mom and Eva. Mom pronounces Eva's name "Efa", the German way.

Eva with the Easter Bunny.

This little Easter outfit, is the same one I wore 34 years ago!

See all the pretty Easter eggs we colored.

The bib says "Somebunny loves me"

We're having a major spring snowstorm. We've got at least 3 ft on the groung and it's still snowing. Agghh.. This is not an easy place to live sometime. This is the photo of our bird feeder on our front porch.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

House Update

I just wanted to update the blog for our construction minded fans. We've gotten lots done over the past six weeks or so. By we, I don't mean me -I've been busy, but Jeff, Rob, Matt, and Harry. The trimwork around windows and doors is done. Harry's working on the stair stringers and other miscellaneous stuff. Most of the Aspen Trimwork by Matt is finished (except the bonus room, which we don't know if we have money to finish). And Jeff is almost done with the rock work behind the wood stove.

Beginning of rock work behind wood stove.

Note the rairoad tie spikes that the rubber mallet is sitting on. We can hang the fireplace utensils from these later.

Jeff working on the rock work. All the rock is hand collected from the property. It's granite with lichen crusts. They call it moss-rock, but it should be called lichen rock. Lichen, you remember, is a symbiosis of a fungus and algae, where as moss is a non-vascular plant.

Jeff about 1/2 done.

We had a visit from some friends last weekend. Here are Josephine and Dakota Fossaceca with Eva. Eva looks like she has a crush on Koty already! Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! Way too early to think about that.

Jeff and Craig playing music in the bonus room. We are planning on trimming out these windows with aspen hand collected from the property -but alas this could be one of the things left out when I run the monetary numbers.

This is white oak hardwood floor drying. We are doing it in 3, 4, 5" widths.

Rob is Jeff's main man right now.

Aspen trimwork by Matt and Jeff.

Matt and Jeff.

Alder trimwork in Master Bedroom over closet doors and looking towards bathroom. May not be able to afford the closet doors right away either.

Harry, master carpenter, is responsible for all trimwork (except aspen which Matt and Jeff did) as well as countless other things.

Friday, February 27, 2009

First Smiles

Eva will be 5 weeks this Sunday, and she just started really smiling this week. Before she would just smile in her sleep, but now we can (sometimes) get her to smile on her own. Taking photos of these fleeting moments, however, is another challenge!

We had Eva's one month checkup yesterday. She is 7lbs 11oz now and is doing great. She's still on the slim end of normal, but at least she's gaining weight at a good clip.

I also had another lactation consultation. Although the Reglan has helped with my milk ejection reflex, my production has remained fairly low. Last session, Eva got about 1 and 2/3 oz from me. Still not enough, but an improvement. We doubt at this point I'll be able to stop using formula. Just one more thing to add to the monthly budget!

Other than that, Eva seems to be fussy every time Daddy is holding her. But I think that's just because she's naturally fussy in the evenings and that's when Dad is home.

I usually only have to get up once in the middle of the night to feed Eva. And we try to load her up with milk and formula before bed-time. For now, this seems to be working o.k.

Eva is losing her hair, can you tell. The front of her head definitely has less hair now. The pediatrician tells me this is normal. Also normal is her bit of baby acne on her nose and chin, and peely skin. Who said baby's skin is perfect? Certainly not ours.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Why Won't Those Booties Stay On?

Other mother's have told me this. Booties just don't stay on the babies feet. Well Eva is no exception. She loves to kick and fidget and let me tell you, the booties will stay on only for about 5 minutes at the most.

booties on.

Right booty coming off.

Almost off.

It's gone.

Left booty coming off.

They are gone!

What cute feet!

Jeff tells me that Eva has my feet. He may be right. Eva's feet are beautiful and perfect! But really what Jeff is referring to is the fact she can spread her toes wide and grip things with her toes (like your fingers). We'll see if she will develop the infamous Gritsch foot (the extra wide and sturdy foot inherited from my father's mother). Dad wears a triple E wide shoe, and my feet are likewise quite wide.

Other than that, Eva is gaining weight now that she is being supplemented with formula. She weighed 7 pounds as of last Monday, and I can only guess weighs more now. My milk production hasn't increased that much, but the last recorded feeding she got over an ounce from me. Still not enough, but an improvement. I'm now taking Reglan (metoclopramide), with no apparent negative effects. I feel strange taking medication after having a natural labor and everything, but I feel I should try to do everything I can. Breast milk is best for babies after all.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Where's the Milk?

Where's the milk? That's what I would like to know. Eva's 2 week checkup this past Monday went pretty well. The doc was able to confirm what I had been suspecting: that I'm not producing enough milk. The solution: we start to supplement with formula. Eva has been taking to the bottle really well, and that means daddy can feed her too. Although, nothing comforts her more than being next to mom, even when dad tries everything else.

I'm on a regiment of nursing her 10 minutes per side, then giving her 3-4 oz. of formula and then pumping for 10 minutes. I"m supposed to do this 8x per day. Then I go back next week to see if my production has increased. I'm also taking herbal supplements. Fenugreek of all things is supposed to increase supply. I'm hoping I can still increase production and then phase out the formula. But, if not, it's no big deal. I just hope I can continue nursing. One thing I learned today, is not to give her the bottle first, then she's too sleepy to breast feed. Overall, it's quite an ego-killer for a first time mom, that she can't give her baby what she really needs. However, considering how well the pregnancy and birth went, I feel like this is really pretty minor. I'll just have to work harder to get those 20 lbs off I have to loose.

"Hey, what's going on? This is coming out really fast!"

Daddy feeding Eva.

Eva all swaddled up and asleep -from a walk we just took. Thanks Grandma Judy, the Ergo carrier is just what we need!

Eva in Grandma's Carolyn's pretty purple dress.

Eva Linnaea.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Eva Linnaea -12 days old

Eva Linnaea is 12 days old today. It's amazing how fast time flies. We are all doing well. Jeff is back to work full time at our new house and Rea is finally getting some decent sleep. Rea's parents, Helli and Carolyn, left today after staying a short week. They were a huge help with cooking and cleaning, entertaining Eva, and dad even wired up all the phone and ethernet connections at our new house. I try to mark the days with at least one little accomplishment, like trimming Eva's nails, or posting a new blog, or going to the grocery store. Earlier this week Eva, mom, and I went to Boulder to run errands. I think Eva slept the whole time, (about 4 1/2 hours or so). That was amazing.